McLaren reports record sales growth in 2016

LONDON, January 11, 2017

McLaren Automotive, the British manufacturer of luxury sports and supercars, has reported a record year of sales growth with a near-doubling of its sales volume year-over-year, selling a total of 3,286 cars in 2016 compared to 1,654 in 2015.

The 99.3 per cent improvement in sales performance also follows the company’s announcement of a third consecutive year of profitability in 2015 and the production milestone of the company’s 10,000th car, all capping another highly successful and record-breaking year, said a statement from McLaren.

Mike Flewitt, chief executive officer of McLaren Automotive, said: “2016 was a remarkable year for our company. We’d planned it to be a year of considerable growth, thanks to the first full year of Sports Series production, but it’s surpassed even our own optimistic expectations, having seen development in all regions.”

“We have also invested significantly in our future. The launch of the second shift at the McLaren Production Centre this time last year gives us the capacity for future volume increase and in March, we launched Track22, our six-year business plan, that demonstrates the longer-term future for the company, with 15 all new cars or derivatives planned between now and 2022,” he said.

“I look forward to showing the world the first of those 15 new cars in Geneva: the second-generation McLaren Super Series.,” he added.

The dramatic sales development, from 1,654 cars in 2015 to 3,286 cars in 2016, was thanks to growth across all regions and exceeded the company’s own expectations on the 2016 sales performance, previously estimated as 3,000 cars.

In its first full year of production, the Sports Series family accounted for 2,031 deliveries, the majority of which came from the recently-introduced McLaren 570GT and 570S models.

The Super Series also continued its success story thanks, in large part, to the McLaren 675LT Coupé and Spider models. Having both sold out in a matter of weeks, the limited production, even more driver-focused and higher-performance derivatives of the Super Series started production in mid-2015 but continued through 2016. In total, 1,255 Super Series cars were sold in 2016.

Geographically, North America continued to be McLaren Automotive’s single largest market with deliveries of 1,139 cars, a 106 per cent increase over 2015. Europe ended 2016 selling 996 cars in total, an increase of 153 per cent whilst the rapidly-developing market in China sold 228 cars in total.

The Asia Pacific region grew by 90 per cent while the newly combined Middle East, Africa and Central and South America region grew by a notable 69 per cent. In addition, the global footprint of the McLaren retailer network continued apace with new dealer facilities opened in Bristol (UK), Boston and Palm Beach (US), Gold Coast (Australia) and Fukuoka in Japan.

In March at the Geneva Motorshow, McLaren Automotive revealed details of its Track22 Business Plan, taking the company through to 2022. With a continued focus on building the world’s finest sports and super cars, the business plan reiterates a commitment to its industry-leading 20-25 percent of turnover invested in Research and Development for future products and technology.

Over the six-year Business Plan period, this represents an investment of £1 billion ($1.22 billion) and will lead to the launch of 15 all-new cars or derivatives. Of these cars, at least 50 per cent will feature hybrid technology by the end of the Business Plan period. The Business Plan also includes the development of a fully-electric powertrain for a concept car to evaluate its possible use in a future Ultimate Series. In 2016, the early prototype stages of the development work commenced.

In common with every year of the company’s short existence, 2016 was a year that saw a raft of new models introduced, especially in the Sports Series family. The Geneva Motorshow marked the introduction of the new McLaren 570GT - the most refined and luxurious McLaren to date.

2016 also represented a transition year for the McLaren Production Centre in Woking – the only location where McLaren’s sports and super cars are manufactured. January marked the announcement of a second shift within the facility, created due to the global demand for the new Sports Series models.

A total of 250 new jobs were created during the first half of 2016 for the second shift within the manufacturing, quality and logistics departments. This strategic development took capacity at the production centre from 10 cars per day to 20 cars per day, and a natural annual capacity of around 5,000 cars. Today, around 90 per cent of all cars built within the McLaren Production Centre are exported.

In July 2016, the production centre celebrated the fifth anniversary of McLaren Automotive building cars. Following a 14-month construction, on July 5, 2011, the first car, a McLaren 12C, rolled out of the newly-built McLaren Production Centre and the modern-day McLaren story started.

And 2016 concluded with the production of McLaren’s 10,000th car. The 570S finished in Ceramic Grey from the McLaren Special Operations ‘Defined’ palette left the Production Centre on 15 December, just over five years after the start of production. Highlighting the pace of the company’s development, it took 42 months to build the first 5,000 cars and just 22 months to build the next 5,000, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service